Users report problems when viewing messages sent from Mac Mail software, particularly when the message includes file attachments.

If your sender from Mac Mail attaches the file before they enter the message text, you sometimes won't be able to see the attachment in Web Mail. It seems to only fail on plain text messages, not on HTML text. If they reverse the order and enter their text before they add the file attachment, you will get the attachment just fine. This problem is unique to messages sent from Mac Mail.

There is a related problem where if the Mac Mail sender attaches a file, and then enters HTML text afterward, then sometimes you will get the attachment but won't see the text. Reversing the order when sending fixes it, and it also doesn't seem to occur with plain text, only formatted text. This problem is NOT unique to viewing messages in Web Mail, but happens in most (or all) non-Mac email programs when viewing these messages from Mac Mail, and this one is definitely a bug in Mac Mail. It will happen when viewing the messages in Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, and most other email programs.

Both of these are due to the unique non-standard way that Mac Mail constructs multi-part messages, and these don't happen with email from other sources. We will try to get it fixed, at least the attachment problem. The text problem mentioned second is in Mac Mail and we may not be able to do a workaround for it. Apple should fix it.

In the meantime, ask senders using Mac Mail to enter their message text first before attaching files instead of the other way around, and there shouldn't be any problems.

Discussion

I am writing about the "lost attachments" and your suggestion that the issue is with the sender using Mac Mail.

I have a MacBook Pro but do not use any type of Mac mail program... just the web mail. The people sending me the messages may have Macs and Mac Mail. One of them uses "Smartermail" system and I don't know if that is Mac Mail or not. It might indeed be that this strange thing with Mac Mail users sending mail contributes to the problem. But, if the problem for the receiving computer exists for non Mac computers and/or Outlook Express, then this explanation does not compute for me.

I will ask the sender next time there is a problem to write text first before entering an attachment to see if that works. But... maybe this does need a fix on your end as well.

I also wonder about this solution. I frequently receive email from a friend using a Mac and his attachments, regardless of original file type, are always reduced to a 1 to 3kb file in htm format. What makes me suspicious of the solution is that other non-Mac users receiving the same email seem to get the attachments without a problem. Interestingly, none of the other addressees use earthlink. . . so, is there a problem on earthlink's end?

My daughter uses a mac and I am never able to receive attachments from her. I told her of your "solution": to attach the document before writing any text and vice versa. Neither way has worked. The only recipients that cannot receive email attachments from her are those with earthlink addresses. How does this make any sense? Why is this a "mac" problem?

I just received an email from a MacOSX user, I was CC'd, and a zipped PDF attachment did not appear when I got the message in Web Mail. When they resent the message to me the Unzipped PDF attachment came thru. When I checked my mail using MS Outlook Express Both messages had the attachment! Why the difference? Was it because one attachment was zipped and the other wasn't? Or that one message came to me as the Carbon Copy address and the other came only to me? Or perhaps because one message was sent on a Wednesday and the other on a Thursday? Web Mail sees only the Unzipped attachment while Outlook Express sees both.

I send mass e-mails from my Mac using Filemaker and Mac Mail. Only one of the people I send to does not receive the attachments, an Earthlink user. I am an Earthlink Webmail user; Mac Mail gets my e-mail from my Earthlink account, and I have no problem receiving the attachments. When I log on to Earthlink Webmail, however, those same e-mails appear without attachments! This sounds like an Earthlink problem to me!

Attachments sent by me from Mac Mail to an ix.netcom.com address (my own or my wife's) have suddenly stopped being visible or accessible in Earthlink Webmail. Does not matter whether plain text is used or whether text is entered before attaching the attachment. The attachment shows up in Mac Mail when sent to the ix.netcom.com address from Mac Mail, so the problem is not with Earthlink per se, just with Earthlink Webmail. I can also send the attachment from Earthlink Webmail to my ix.netcom.com address when using my MacBook, and it shows up in Earthlink Webmail when it goes that route. The attachment also shows up fine when sent from Mac Mail to my non-Earthlink address and I open it in Outlook Webmail. So it seems to be a Mac Mail to Earthlink WebMail issue and, for me at least, it's very recent. Other than allowing routine updates, I haven't changed programs or computers. Suggestions appreciated.

I wonder, if there already is a solution for this? Every time I want to send an attachement with an email, the programm cuts off the test and puts it into a html-file...It´s quite irritating as I want to send these files to customers too....
Help anyone please?
Andrea

I don't buy the "it's a mac issue" thing either. Sometimes I get the attachment and sometimes I don't. Other people using email other than earthlink get the attachment that I do not. One thing that does seem to affect the success of the attachment coming through is whether the sender sends the email only to me, or to many people. When there are many recipients, I don't get the attachment (it's embedded into the email, but there is no attachment). If they re-send the message to me only, I get the attachment. I haven't tried the text vs HTML options yet.

If this is a mac problem why do other email programs work fine. I forwarded the "problem attachment email message" to a yahoo email and was able to get the attachments just fine. Seems like an earthlink problem

Just tripped over this Mac mail --> Earthlink Webmail problem with attachments not showing.

The message is 400k, and the attachment is physically there, as you can see it via the VIEW SOURCE and scroll to where it's embedded with the headers... it's just that Webmail is not triggering on the attachment headers, so you never know it's there and no "paper clip" or other indicators.

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